Envelope opener



Nov. zo, 1923` 11,474,856

J. STARKL ENVELOPE OPENER Filed Oct. ll 1922 J7 ,Ewen/Tfn Joseph 'wib,

Patented ltlov. 20, i923.

JOSEPH STARKL, OF CHICAGO, lLLINOS, ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF TO HENRY HEIDEL-BERGER, Gl CHICAGO, ILLINQS, AND ONE-HALF TO CHARLES C. MADSEN, OIE'CHICAGO, ILLNOIS.

ENVELOPE OPENER.

Application filed October 11, 1322.

T 0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Josnrrr S'rnRKL, a citizen of Austria (who has madeapplication for naturalization as a citizen of the United o States),residing at Chicago, in the county of Cool; and State of llinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelope Openers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hand-operated tools for opening envelopes, andhas reference more particularly to that type of tool which does` itswork by cutting a narrow strip from one edge of the closed envelope, or16 trimming olf the fold which integrally7 joins the front and backsides of the envelope; this -beinp' accomplished by a simple relativelongitudinal sliding movement of the tool and the envelope.

rlhe main object of the present invention is to provide a simple,inexpensive, and eficient hand tooll by which envelopes and similararticles may be expeditiously opened without any danger of cutting orotherwise injuring the contents of the envelope. Other objects are toprovide an improved means for effecting the shearing action of therotary cutter blades under `a friction drive i of the envelope itself,and to provide an improved means for insuring a clean shear out of thecutting blades by maintaining the lapping portions of their cuttingedges always in close contact. Y

v Other objects and attendant advantages of the invention will beapparent to persons skilled in the art as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing in which I have to illustrateda practical and workable embodiment of theV invention, and wherein- Fig.1 is a perspective elevation, illustrat-v Serial No. 593,708.

rlhe frame or body of the tool is conveniently made in a single casting,preferably of aluminum, and comprises generally a head portion 10 and ahandle 11. The head 10 is slotted throughout substantially its fulllength and width, leaving parallel outer and inner walls 12 and 13,etween whichthe cutters and their associated driving and tensioningdevices are located. The inner side of the handle 11 is formed with alongitudinal slot la, the side walls of which are preferably beveled orchamfered, as shown at 15 in 2 and 6; and the slot le is extendedthrough the inner wall 13 of the head, as shown at 14C. Preferably theouter sides of the handle 11 are concave, as shown at 16, creatingshallow depressions which afford an improved grip of the thumb and forefinger on the handle, but this feature is, of course, optional.Preferably also the ends of the slotted head 10 are formd with curvedguards or covers 17 on the side adjacent to the handle to prevent anydanger of cutting the thumb and finger of the user resulting fromgrasping the handle too closely to the head. Extending between the frontand rear walls of the head are a pair of pins 18, preferably having ataper fit with their receivinff apertures in the walls so that they canbe driven in with a permanent fit. rThese pins 18 constitute fixedsupports in the nature of shafts, on which the cutter blades, theirdriving discs and spacing washers are rotatably mounted. Rotatable oneach of the pins 18 is a hub member 19; and tightly fitted on these hubmembers are a pair of friction cutter driving discs 2O preferably ofsoft rubber or equipped with soft rubber treads. rlhese discs lie in thesaine plane and are normally in peripheral Contact at the center of theslot 14', as clearly shown in Figs. e and 5. Between each disc 2O andthe adjacent wall 13 is preferably located a thin metal washer 21designed to reduce the side friction of the rubber disc against the wallof the head..

@n the opposite sides of the driving discs 2O are located the twocircular steel cutter blades 22 formed with beveled peripheries, asshown in Fig. 5, which overlap at the center of the slot 14 directlyopposite the contact point of the peripheries 'of the discs 20. Thesheer relation of the Vedges of the blades is obtained by locating oneofthe blades directly' against .the 1driving disc 20, and offsetting theother blade by an interposed friction washer 23. On the left ends of thehubs 19, as shownin Fig. 5, are lmounted a pair of metal discs 2liand`25 spaced from the cutter blades 22 by interposed spacing washers 26and 27, respectively. The Peripheries of the ldiscs 24 and 25 overlap ata point directly opposite the overlapping portion of the peripheries ofthe cutter blades; and the disc 25 is of steel or'other resilient'metal,and constitutes a spring to force its associated cutter' disc 22 snuglyagainst the co-operating cutter disc throughout the overlapping area oftheir cutting edges. .It will be observed by reference to Fig. 5 thatthe spring disc 25 is slightly Vsprung inwardly between the hub and thepoint at which it overlaps the periphery of the co-operating disc 24;.The spring disc 25 is locked on the hub 19 by spreading the end of thelatter over the inner ,periphery of the disc 25 as indicated in F 5;andrit will further be Vunderstood that all of the rotary elementsassembled on the hubs 19 are -tightly fitted on the latter so as to turntherewith, the hubs themselves turning freely on the pivot pins orshafts 18.

"The manner of using the device is illustrated in Fig. 1, from which itwill be seen Vthat the handle of the tool is grasped by the thumb andfore finger of one hand, while the envelope is similarly grasped at itsupper endadjacent to the edge to be cut by the thumb and lingers of theother hand, the edge of the envelope is entered into the slot 14 of thehandle, being guided by the bottom of said slot, and the tool is thendrawn quickly downwardly or inwardly over lthe edge. This brings themargin of the envelope into the grip of the friction discs 20, impartingrotation to the latter and thus to the rotary cutters 22. The cut tingportions of the blade edges sever the strip always at a point oppositeto and in the transverse plane of the gripping point of the discs 20with the front and rear sides Vof the envelope,V so that the latter issqueezed and held rigidly just inwardly ofthe continuously progressingpoint at which the cutting takes place. This insures a clean cut in astraight line ,parallel with the edge yof the envelope and so closelyadjacent to p`o1n`t,.and the other of which .resides 'in the meansIbywvhich the shear' edges of the cutters are elastically pressedtogether at their overlapping portions, thereby insurino" a clean shearcut.

manifestly the device comprises relatively few parts capable of beingeasily assembled in cooperative relation, thusenabling the complete toolto be manufactured at A'a low cost. l have herein shown and describedone physical embodiment of the invention which in practice has beenfound to satisfactorily fulfillV the stated purposes and objects; but itis manifest that the structural details are capableof modificationwithout Vinvolving,any departure from the operative principle of theinvention or sacrificing any of its advantages. Hence, I reserve fs'uchvariations and modifications as fall within the spirit and purview ofthe appended claims.

I claim- 1. An envelope cuttercom'prising a hollow head and a handle,said handle formed with a longitudinal slot extending across one side ofsaid head VVto receive and guide an edge of the envelopesJ pair ofcircular cutters .jonrnaled in said head and havingtheir cutting edgesoverlapping within said slot, and a pair of friction 'rollers alsojournale'd in said head with their peripheries substantially contiguouswithin said slot, said rollers 'serving to grip the margin of theenvelope laterally opposite to the overlap ping edges of said cutters.

2. An envelope cutter comprising a hollow head and a handle, said handleformed with a longitudinal guide slot extending across o-ne side of saidhead, a pair of circular cutters journaled `in said head with theircutting `edges overlapping` within said slot, and a pair of frictionrollers also j'ournaled in said head coanially with said cut-ters andwith their peripheries substantially contiguous within said slot, saidrollers serving to grip the margin'of the envelope laterally opposite tothe overlapping edges -of said cutters and alsoserving to drive thelatter under frictional rolling contact with the envelope. Y Y

3. An envelope cutter comprising a hollow head and a handle formed witha continuous guide slot extending lengthwise of the handle and acrossone side of said head, a pair of pivot pins mounted in and c'rosswiseo-f said hea-d, a pair of cutter discs rotatable on said pivot pins,respectively, with their cutting edges overlapping within vsaid slot,and a pair of rollers rotatable on said pivot pins and drivinglyconnected "to said cutter discs, said rollers beingyin 'rolling contactwith each other 'at a point insaid slo't laterally opposite to theoverlapping 'edges `of said cutter discs.

4. An4 envelope cutter comprising a hollow head anda handlerorrned witha continuous guide slot extending lengthwise-fof-It-he handie and acrossone side of said head, a pair of pivot pins mounted in and crosswise ofsaid head, hub members rotatably mounted on said pivot pins,respectively, a pair of cutter discs xedly mounted on said hub members,respectively, with their cutting edges overlapping within said slot, anda pair of friction rollers xedly mo-unted on said hub members laterallyopposite to said cutter discs, said rollers being in rolling Contactwith each other at a pointV in said slot laterally opposite to theoverlapping edges of said cutter discs.

5. An envelope cutter comprising a hollow head and a handle formed witha continuous guide slot extending lengthwise of the handle and acrossone side of said head, a pair of circular cutters journaled in said headwith their cutting edges overlapping within said slot, a pair offriction rollers also journaled in said head and drivingly connected tosaid cutters, said rollers being in rolling contact with each other at apoint in said slot laterally opposite to the overlapping edges of saidcutters, and spring means or pressing the overlapping portions of saidcutters into snug contact with each other.

6. An envelope cutter comprising a hollow head and a handle formed witha continuous guide slot extending lengthwise of the handle and acrossone side of said head, a pair of pivot pins mounted in and crosswise ofsaid head, hub members rotatably mounted on said pivot pins,respectively, a pair of cutter discs xedly mounted on said hub members,respectively, with their cutting edges overlapping within said slot, apair of Jfriction rollers xedly mounted on said hub members laterallyopposite to said cutter discs, said rollers being in rolling contactwith each other at a point in said slot laterally opposite to theoverlapping' edges of said cutter discs, and a spring washer fast on oneof said hub members and exerting an e-ndwise thrust on the latterwhereby its associated cutter disc is pressed into snug Contact with thecooperating cutter disc throughout the overlapping portions of saidcutter discs.

7. An envelope cutter comprising a hollow head and a handle formed witha continuous guide slot extending lengthwise of the handle and acrossone side of said head, a pair of cutter discs journaled in said headwith their cutting edges overlapping within said slot, and a pair ofrubber rollers journaled in said head coaXially with said cutter discsand drivingly connected to the latter, said rollers being in rollingcontact with each other at a point in said slot laterally opposite tothe overlapping edges of said cutter discs and closely adjacent to thelatter.

JOSEPH STARKL.

